WASHINGTON – Pursuant to the requirements of the IRS Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998, the Joint Committee on Taxation today held a joint hearing with the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, the Senate Committee on Finance, the House Committee on Government Reform, the House Committee on Ways and Means, and the Senate and House Committees on Appropriations on tax enforcement activities of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

"Management problems pervade everything the IRS does, and the increased emphasis and shift in resources of the past few years have not improved taxpayer service," Senate Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Fred Thompson (R-TN) recently stated. "Poor financial and information systems at the IRS benefit tax cheats and harm honest taxpayers. The IRS sometimes issues refund checks to delinquent taxpayers and goes after taxpayers who are owed refunds. It allows billions of dollars in erroneous Earned Income Tax Credits, while many low income taxpayers who are entitled to the Earned Income Credit don’t get it. The agency still fails to consistently release liens on a timely basis after tax debts have been paid off."

Thompson continued, "I met with Commissioner Rossotti, and he assured me that he and his recently augmented staff are trying hard to fix the massive management problems at the IRS, but they have their work cut out for them."

The attached statement was submitted for the joint review of the IRS today.

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STATEMENT OF SENATOR FRED THOMPSON, CHAIRMAN